Man nearly struck by lightning - GIF

South Carolina man nearly struck by lightning.

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Previously:

https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...824#post194302
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...629#post193468
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...707#post186339
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...811#post152357
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...893#post137387

Been struck by lightning. Avoid it if you can. It hurts kind of a lot.

At least it was raining, so he wouldn't have to explain his wet pants.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheElderBrother

Been struck by lightning. Avoid it if you can. It hurts kind of a lot.

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Never been struck by lightning myself, but when I was working at the blacksmith shop as a boy I was helping the blacksmith's son one day in the rain He was welding on a piece of farm equipment while I was holding a 6 ft umbrella over us to try and keep us dry. Lightning struck the gin poles on his rig turned the winch cable red hot and back fed into the welding rod instantly vaporizing it and knocked him about 4 feet away. William decided we really didn't need to continue working on the plow right then.

That sounds like solid thinking. Electricity has no pity, no remorse, and no sense of humor. None at all. The second you stop respecting it, it kills you deader than disco, and even then it has a nasty habit of just lashing out. I don't think it even follows the rules of physics most of the time.

And I'll do you one better. The bolt hit forked and vaporized my 3D cell MagLite, which I had just thrown away from me a haf a tick earlier, because I smelled something weird and my brain told me that handful of batteries was a bad idea. It wasn't storming. Just ground lightning.

The other fork hit me in the left hip, jumped across my pelvis, doing nerve damage as it went, then ran halfway down my right thigh, then jumped across to my left thigh and ran down my left leg and out a hole in the sole of my show. I was nineteen and I didn't get an erection for six months.

And that's when you're supposed to get erections. When you're nineteen.

The bolt caused my left leg's lymphatic system to dry up pretty well, so over time that leg started giving me real trouble, and then when I injured it fighting the fire in 2016, the injury would not heal.

So they lopped it off. The leg. Not the other thing. That works fair enough for middle age.

Never trifle with electricity. I'll just about barely make myself change a light bulb but I do not do electrical work. Even using power tools freaks me out a bit.

I don't even go to the fireworks on the Fourth of July.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheElderBrother

...And I'll do you one better...I don't even go to the fireworks on the Fourth of July.

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Dang. That was a bad experience. You are very fortunate to be alive.

I was sailing with my 2 nephews on my Hobie 16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobie_16 Lots of others also out sailing.

26 foot aluminum mast, aluminum frame supporting the trampoline you sit on. Nice sunny day, fresh breeze. Suddenly the breeze stopped, then got much stronger and changed directions, temp dropped dramatically, big black cloud rolling toward us. We headed for the beach and picked up speed as the wind increased. I was actually a very exhilarating ride.

Then a bolt of lightening flashed across the lake. A deafening crack mixed with yelps of surprise from everyone. My arm jerking from the shock I felt through the aluminum tiller I was holding.

At that speed, did not take us very long to get to the beach. Turned the boat on its side on the beach and headed for shelter. Befpre we got to shelter, it was all over. sun came back out. I have never seen anything like it before or since. The whole event was over in 10-15 minutes.